Revelation

Question

Since some months I suffer from secretions in nose, mouth and lungs. I call it secretions and somebody asked me whether I suffer from cystic fibrosis. I started looking on the internet and was wondering at what age do you get symptoms from this disease and what the symptoms are.

Answer

Dear ECORN-user,

Thanks for this question. CF is a disease that can manifest itself in many ways. Most commonly the patient suffers from severe disease: the symptoms start early in life and the child has poor absorption of food (diarrhea, growth retardation, abdominal pain) and/or chronic airway infections. Apart from the classical disease with involvement of lungs and digestive system, some people have milder forms that may be limited to just one organ (for instance: only sterility in men). In such mild cases it is even under discussion whether the doctor should use the term cystic fibrosis. In Belgium, half of the patients with CF have their diagnosis before the age of 7 months; 90% of the patients have received their diagnosis by the age of 14 years and only 10% of the cases are diagnosed during adulthood. For more information you can check the sections ‘atypical or mild CF’.
Kind regards
Prof. Dr. K. De Boeck

01.12.2011